The Mesecons Laboratory

[Temperest]

I've had a subdomain at Uberi.Mesecons.net for a while now, but only recently got around to putting something in it.

Presenting the Mesecons Laboratory!



I will be posting new articles about advanced Mesecons design and construction breakdowns/techniques from time to time. Check it out!

The Mesecons Laboratory

GitHub Repository

There is no commenting system in place; you can make comments here in this thread.

If you'd like to write an article for the Mesecons Laboratory, send me a message!

[Nore]

If you want, I will make a tutorial about how to make a mesecons computer (without any microcontroller/luacontroller)

Here is the one I built:


https://github.com/Novatux/Sliding_door/raw/master/computer.zip

[rarkenin]

If you want, I will make a tutorial about how to make a mesecons computer (without any microcontroller/luacontroller)

Here is the one I built:


https://github.com/Novatux/Sliding_door/raw/master/computer.zip

I'm guessing you are referring to some sort of processor? How many registers? Other yada-yada...

[webdesigner97]

A processor? Cool! O.o

[12Me21]

I built a 7-segment display where there is a button for each number (0-9) and when you press one of them, that number appears on the screen. It doesn't use any microcontrollers or luacontrollers, all it uses are insulated mesecons (plus the corners and T connections), light blocks, switches, mese blocks, and diodes.

[Nore]

No, y=250.

It uses a 16-bit architechture, with 256 ROM registers and 32 RAM registers.

Oh, and don't expect it to really work unless you change delayers and button delay to something 100 times the normal one, and setting unused_block_timeout to something far larger (or use the force_load pull).

The program in the computer should make the sum of the integers form 1 to 10, but I never saw it execute a single instruction.

[Temperest]

Nore: that would be awesome! If you do go about doing so (it seems like a lot of work), I will certainly add them to the site.

By the way, what are its capabilities? What architecture is it using? From the map it seems like some sort of modified Harvard architecture. In any case flying through it feels like the towers scene from "The Matrix".

12Me21: I'm also looking for a "Back to the Basics" category, where we use only the core features such as wiring and diodes. That sounds like a perfect entry to have.

My next entry will be about a Mesecons 3D printer! Stay tuned.

[Nore]

Oops, you should disable overheat too.

About its architechture, I made the one presented here: http://www.nand2tetris.org/course.php (no modifications except reducing RAM and ROM, and doing base components another way).

Another advantage is that every component can be reused in another creation because I built something modular (but it was long to connect everything to everything).

A suggestion for the site: if possible, make seperate pages for each creation, and perhaps a search function.

[Temperest]

Nore: I will split them into pages, and maybe consider installing something like WordPress to deal with the content.

As it is now, it is all hand coded HTML/CSS/JS, that's why the site loads so quickly.

[Kacey]

I built a 7-segment display where there is a button for each number (0-9) and when you press one of them, that number appears on the screen. It doesn't use any microcontrollers or luacontrollers, all it uses are insulated mesecons (plus the corners and T connections), light blocks, switches, mese blocks, and diodes.

i made a 4 bit decoder to 7 segment display with luacontrollers

[Temperest]

Site updated!

• Articles split up into pages.
• Index has previews of each article.
• Difficulty levels for each article (scale of 1 to 10).

There is a new picture in the first post, as well as updated links.

[Jeija]

Great! I will soon make a link to the laboratory from the main page.

[Temperest]

New article: the tic-tac-toe machine! A complete guide to building your own machine to play this classic game.

[12Me21]

I built a 7-segment display where there is a button for each number (0-9) and when you press one of them, that number appears on the screen. It doesn't use any microcontrollers or luacontrollers, all it uses are insulated mesecons (plus the corners and T connections), light blocks, switches, mese blocks, and diodes.

i made a 4 bit decoder to 7 segment display with luacontrollers

cool!

[Temperest]

New article!



The node detector is an important part of the mesecons 3D Scanner, the mesecons punch tape computer, and a lot of other more advanced machines. Check out the article at the Mesecons Laboratory for a detailed guide on how to design, build, and improve on it!

[Nore]

I made an article for my site too: the multiplier, an improved version since the last competition. See it at [url]nore.mesecons.net[/url]. Thanks to have added a link to my site on yours!

[Temperest]

Excellent! I tried to build a multiplier myself back when the only logic device was the plug/socket/inverter, but each adder being at least 4x5x4 made the whole thing prohibitively large - the main problem was making a compact XOR gate.

Basic Mesecons is great for people looking to learn about the low-level digital stuff and the logic behind how things work. I like the way the article explains the reasoning behind most of the components built.

[Temperest]

New article!



The digital clock does exactly what you'd expect it to - it tells the time.

This one also covers the creation of a very compact 7 segment display plus a built-in driver for the digits 0-9.

[cheapie]

New article!

*snip*

The digital clock does exactly what you'd expect it to - it tells the time.

This one also covers the creation of a very compact 7 segment display plus a built-in driver for the digits 0-9.

I'm having trouble with it - some rows show garbage for certain digits.

Ex:

2
|
V
===
++=
===
=++
===

(works fine)

but:

0
|
V
===
=+=
+++
=+=
===

(two lights in middle row that should be on are off)

also:

1
|
V
+++
++=
+++
++=
+++

(only 2 of the proper 5 come on)

[Temperest]

Have you tried the WorldEdit schematic?

You might also want to make sure your Luacontrollers are facing the correct direction. Generally, you can tell which direction I'm building it from the pictures.

In the digital clock article, port A should be facing the lightstone, and port C should be facing the back. If you built it another way, don't fret! Simply replace things like port.a in the code with the correct port, and continue building.

Alternatively, use WorldEdit's //rotate command to rotate your entire structure to the desired orientation. I also added the //orient command a while back, so if you used facedir nodes in your build you can use this to rotate individual nodes like furnaces and delayers.

I'll add notes to all existing and future articles to clarify this point.

Edit: done!

[cheapie]

The orientation looks fine to me...
Note how the second-from-bottom row is working but the bottom isn't. This is with the code from the website. This segment is supposed to be displaying "7".

[Temperest]

Oh, I see the problem.

If you look carefully in the image, I used uninsulated mesecon in the second-to-bottom and second-to-top row rather than insulated corner wires. This differs in that the rows above and below it also light up when this one does.

See here:

[cheapie]

Thanks - it works fine now.

[Temperest]

I recently realized there isn't much information for new Mesecons users that don't already have Redstone experience, so here's my attempt at remedying that:



It goes quite well with another work of mine, the "Opinionated Guide to Advanced Mesecons". Check it out!

The rate of articles being published will decrease a bit while internet access is sporadic.

[Inocudom]

Some people may not know this, but mese blocks themselves transmit signals (though using mesecon wires is much more resource efficient.) I am glad that there is a site that gives tutorials on how to build various things. One day, there might be mesecon machines that are truly fun to play with (like games and such.)